As you may have noticed, the site looks different. I’ve switched some things around of where I’m hosting my site, so please excuse me while the site is under construction. Feel free to like my facebook page so you can follow me in the mean time.

I have recently began the quest of reading “The Lord of the Rings,” and I know I’m a bad member of the western world for not having finished it earlier. But honestly, I’m glad I didn’t. I wasn’t ready for it in High School. I am now far enough removed from High School to admit all of the things I did not understand and was not ready for.

Like this movie.

Now that I am older and more mature Now that I am not in High School, what was once an arduous task is now a joy and treasure. I warned my friends when I restarted the books that I was very likely to become one of those Lord of the Rings fans. And it’s very quickly becoming true. I have used the word “mathom” in conversation more times than I can recall, and I can’t wait to start reading the appendices.

I love how much music is in the books. It is further contributing to my desire to see more spaces made for the communal making of music. The sharing of songs and the telling of tales. I think it’s so important to make music corporately, which is part of the reason I love writing hymns. This aspect has also pushed my interest in the stage version of the epic which has played to audiences outside the U.S.

Which includes music by A. R. Rahman.

But one thing that has been bothering while reading the books is the fact that they’re in copyright. I have heard it said over and over again that Tolkien wanted to created a mythology for the English speaking world. But what good is a mythology if it doesn’t belong to the people? A mythology is at it’s richest when many voices are contributing to it creating new variations and threads. This is something that frustrates me about many of our Western mythos. It’s very hard for the layman to contribute to them in an area much larger than fan fiction. I crave for the day when society’s great icons will truly belong to society.

For me, the 4th of July has always been very connected to music. When I was a kid, I LOVED the song “Independence Day” by Martina McBride. It had a rousing chorus I could sing at the top of my lungs, it was a holiday a week before my birthday, everything about it was awesome.

Given that I was 4, I had no idea what the song was actually about. WARNING: Intense 90’s Country Music Message Video Ahead.

But now, the songs I sing on July 4th are of a much more light-hearted and historical fare. Such as the songs from “1776,” the musical about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Yes, about that. It was written by a history teacher. And it’s awesome. AND it originally starred MR. FEENY!!!!! Go watch the movie, you’ll be glad you did.

“Unlike playing the trombone in a college marching band, playing quarterback on the college football team requires talent, rhythm, and the ability to refrain from tooting your own horn. Get into playing shape with this Groupon.”

Yeah, that’s bullsh*t.

So many took to twitter responding @Reebok & @Groupon, using the hashtag #Trombonegate2012, expressing their distaste at what had been posted. When I woke up this morning, it had been changed to the milder:

“Shoes are the foundation of any outfit, just as a pile of skeletons is the foundation for any lake house. Tread confidently with this Groupon.”

In my Junior year at Montreat College, as a part of my Interdisciplinary Studies, I was apart of a group of Music Business students charged with the task of recording & releasing an album. We could choose anything we wanted for this very real class assignment, and we choose the Swannanoa Valley.

The result was “In the Land of the Sky,” a collection of stories and songs connected to the valley. Looking back, it was a very special experience to make this album a reality, and I think for me, that’s the most special thing about it, that it’s real.

My main task was to oversee the material for the narrations that appear on the album, giving context for the songs. While I was not with the group for the last semester of the project, nearly all of the narrations were written or edited by me.

We had a lot of wonderful people contribute the the album, including David Holt, Wayne Erbsen, Bert Brown, Don Talley, and Matt Auten. You can find the album on amazon here, as well as on iTunes and cdbaby. If you get it, let me know what you think!

A big item in the news lately is gay and gay superheroes. I posted on my facebook page about supporting positive depictions of gay people with my dollars, and I meant that. It’s going to look different for different people (I’m not planning on going clothes shopping anytime soon, but if I do I will definitely consider going to JC Penny). I probably won’t buy Astonishing X-Men beyond the wedding issue, because it’s not my kind of comic.

And seriously, the engagement isn’t even going to last a full issue. Lame.

However, I probably will buy Earth 2 in the future. I was really impressed with the first two issues. The whole creative team did a really wonderful job
immersing me in Earth 2 in a very short amount of time. I was invested and intrigued and I can’t wait to read more.

Would it be one step forward, two steps back if I said he was “flaming?”

Now, do I think it’s a cop-out for the gay character DC has been hyping to be Alan Scott in an alternate universe as opposed to say, Superman? No. He’s still an important character and I thought he was introduced well. It’s important that we analyze these moves and see how they reflect our culture (I wasn’t a huge fan of his boyfriend being termed “his friend”), but we also need to allow these things to happen naturally and not analyze them to the point that we diminish their positive impact.

“The Avengers” (or for those of you in the UK, “Avengers Assemble”) was wonderful, yes. No, I have not seen “Cabin in the Woods,” but I dearly want to. Now that I have graduated and have my beautiful bachelor’s degree, I all of a sudden have free time. And one of the ways I have been spending that free time is to continue in my epic quest to watch all of Buffy and Angel. (Firefly √, Serenity √, Dr. Horrible √, Dollhouse √) To celebrate all the Joss Whedon going on, I present to you the theme songs from all of his major TV projects.

(P.S. If you go to any of the actual YouTube pages for these videos and you haven’t seen the show in question, don’t read the comments. Spoilers abound.)

First out of the gate is the Buffy theme. Written and performed by the band Nerf Herder; they recorded two different versions of this same theme, and I think this is the first one. Which is fine with me, because one of my favorite moments in the series (so far) is when they play the theme in the Season One finale.

When we get to the Angel theme, we arrive in L.A. with a more melancholic acoustic sound (though still with a rock edge). The song is “The Sanctuary” by Darling Violetta. The opening motive is quite beautiful.

And of course, the country song all nerds love, “The Ballad of Serenity.” Written by Joss and sung by Sonny Rhodes.

If you make the argument that the themes get progressively more acoustic, the next natural step would be Gregorian Chant. I give you the Dollhouse theme. (“What You Don’t Know,” Written by Jonatha Brooke & Eric Bazilian, Performed by Jonatha Brooke)

All of these except “The Ballad of Serenity” have extended or full versions you can find on YouTube.